Evaluation of the Public Defender Office

NLADA has conducted a top-to-bottom management evaluation of the largest public defender office in Nevada, and the County Manager promptly responded by promising to seek the additional funding to implement the reforms recommended by NLADA. NLADA’s evaluation report on the Clark County Public Defender Office, released on April 1, 2003 and on the front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal the next day, recommended numerous reforms to achieve the county’s goals of performance-based accountability and effective and efficient representation. The report explains that the problems, such as excessive caseloads and lack of any management structure, accrued during the tenure of the office’s previous long-time chief public defender, and that the new Chief Public Defender, Marcus Cooper, recognizes the “enormity” of the problems and has the “vision and compassion” to rejuvenate the office.

Read the article from Cornerstone, Spring 2003:

Nevada Officials Embrace NLADA Blueprint to Fund Improvements in Public Defense Agency

Read the NLADA Report:

Executive Summary -- Evaluation of the Public Defender Office, Clark County, Nevada (March 2003) (pdf, 13 Kb)

Executive Summary and Full Report (not including appendices) -- Evaluation of the Public Defender Office, Clark County, Nevada (March 2003) (pdf, 288 Kb)

Full Set of Appendices -- Evaluation of the Clark County Nevada Public Defender Office, March 2003 (pdf, 321 Kb)

Appendix A - Staff Survey Form and Results (Evaluation of the Public Defender Office, Clark County, Nevada (March 2003) (pdf, 214 Kb)

Appendix B - ABA's 10 Principles of A Public Defense Delivery System (Evaluation of the Public Defender, Clark County, Nevada (March, 2003) (pdf, 22 Kb)

Appendix C - Model Contract for Public Defender Services (from NLADA's Evaluation of the Public Defender Office, Clark County, Nevada (March 2003) (pdf, 59 Kb)

Appendix D - Policies & Benchmarks for Public Defender Offices (Evaluation of the Public Defender Office, Clark County, Nevada, March 2003) (pdf, 42 Kb)

Documents linked from this page are in the PDF format and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view or print them. Click to download the Acrobat Reader software.